lodge complaint button
commissioners button
programmes button
provinces button
publications button
calendar button
fraud hotline button

Media Advisory: SAHRC in Free State together with the Department of Health and Dihlabeng Development Initiative (DDI) will conduct a dialogue on teenage pregnancy in Paul Roux

27 June 2023

Attention: Editors and Reporters

The South African Human Rights Commission with Department of Health and Civil Society Organisations will be conducting a stakeholder engagement on teenage pregnancy in Paul Roux. Every year in the month of June, South Africans commemorate the events of 16 June 1976. The uprising began in Soweto and spread across the country, radically changing South Africa's socio-political landscape. The rise of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) and the formation of the South African Students' Organization (SASO) sparked political interest in many students, while others joined the wave of anti-apartheid sentiment within the student community.

It is imperative to highlight that the learners or students of 1976 fought a different war compared to what is currently happening at schools. The learners of the new dispensation are to deal with the new challenge of teenage pregnancy. There is an excessive occurrence of adolescent motherhood in the rural areas of the province of Free State. According to Free State Health Department, in a period of four months, the department recorded 150 births for girls between the ages of 10 and 15.

Teenage pregnancies from age 10 to a girl aged 19 remain a serious health and social problem in South Africa, with several incidental pregnancies prominent in young families, peers, and neighbourhoods. It is against the above-mentioned statistics that the Commission felt learners need to be thoroughly engaged to share what can be done to assist them in addressing this scourge.

THE DIALOGUE WILL BE CONDUCTED AS FOLLOWS:

  • Date:       28 June 2023
  • Venue:    Paul Roux Community Hall
  • Time:      10H00 – 13H00

- Ends –

For further information, contact the SAHRC Provincial Manager, Mr. Thabang Kheswa @ 076 038 4507 or email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and Advocacy and Research Officer, Lecholo @ 081 349 7860 or email on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

back to top

About us

Understanding PAIA

The Human Rights Commission is the national institution established to support constitutional democracy. It is committed to promote respect for, observance of and protection of human rights for everyone without fear or favour.

Sentinel House, Sunnyside Office Park, 32 Princess of Wales Terrace, Parktown, Johannesburg, South Africa

011 877 3600 (Switchboard)